KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: LGBT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS –WHAT TO DO IF YOU FACE HARASSMENT AT SCHOOL Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) stunts face discrimatn and harassment at school all too often. Unfortunately, many school officials know very ltle about how the law requir them to protect LGBT stunts. And sometim they do know that they're breakg the law, but
Contents:
- DOG THE MATH: WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY ABOUT HARASSMENT OF GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR STUNTS*
- HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
- GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
- CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS SOCIAL STUDI TEXTBOOKS THAT CLU GAY RIGHTS AFTER WARNGS OM ERNOR
- REPORT SAYS SCHOOLS OFTEN IGNORE HARASSMENT OF GAY STUNTS
DOG THE MATH: WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY ABOUT HARASSMENT OF GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR STUNTS*
* gay harassment in schools *
Another recent report helps expla LGBTQ stunts’ distrs: The vast majory experienced harassment or asslt durg -person school, and many heard school employe e homophobic language, acrdg to a natnal survey of LGBTQ stunts nducted 2021 and released this month by GLSEN, a group that promot safe and clive schools. When stunts themselv began anizg the 1990s, many school admistrators across the US unsuccsfully fought to rtrict the formatn and operatn of gay-straight allianc (GSAs) schools, argug that the clubs were appropriate for youth. One of the most overt mpaigns to keep LGBT topics out of schools was the Briggs Iniative, a ballot measure California 1978 that would have prohibed “the advotg, solicg, imposg, enuragg or promotg of private or public homosexual activy directed at, or likely to e to the attentn of, schoolchildren and/or other employe.
Alabama state law dictat that “[c]ourse materials and stctn that relate to sexual tn or sexually transmted diseas should clu all of the followg elements … [a]n emphasis, a factual manner and om a public health perspective, that homosexualy is not a liftyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual nduct is a crimal offense unr the laws of the state. Texas state law specifi that the Department of State Health Servic “shall give prry to velopg mol tn programs for persons younger than 18 years of age, ” and “[t]he materials the tn programs tend for persons younger than 18 years of age mt … state that homosexual nduct is not an acceptable liftyle and is a crimal offense unr Sectn 21. Utah state law prohibs public schools om g materials for “muny and personal health, physlogy, personal hygiene, and preventn of munible disease” that clu stctn “the trici of terurse, sexual stimulatn, or erotic behavr; the advocy of homosexualy; the advocy or enuragement of the e of ntraceptive methods or vic; or the advocy of sexual activy outsi marriage.
In 2013, the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network (GLSEN) found that discrimatn and victimizatn of youth based on their sexual orientatn or genr inty rrelated wh lower levels of self-teem, higher levels of prsn, and creased absenteeism om school. In 2016, the feral ernment’s Youth Risk Behavr Survey asked for the first time natnally about stunt sexualy, and found the 8 percent of stunts who intified as lbian, gay, or bisexual natnally experienced higher rat of prsn and suicidaly than their heterosexual peers.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
This report exam the shortgs Japane ernment polici that expose LGBT stunts to bullyg and hib accs to rmatn and self-exprsn. Bullyg is wispread and btal Japan’s schools, yet ernment polici addrsg bullyg do not specifilly addrs LGBT stunts, who are among the most vulnerable to bullyg. Instead, the natnal bullyg preventn policy promot social norms at the expense of basic rights. LGBT stunts told Human Rights Watch that teachers have told them that by beg openly gay or transgenr, they are beg selfish and should expect not to succeed school. * gay harassment in schools *
A lack of support ntributed to the prevalence of negative mental health out; one study, lbian, gay, and bisexual stunts environments wh fewer supports like gay-straight allianc, clive anti-bullyg polici, and clive non-discrimatn polici were 20 percent more likely to attempt suici than those more supportive environments. 2 percent of lbian, gay, and bisexual rponnts the US had been bullied on school property, and that lbian, gay, and bisexual rponnts were twice as likely as heterosexual youth to be threatened or jured wh a weapon on school property. In sophomore history class, we had to stand up and say our name and one thg we’re part of, and I said ‘Charlie, and GSA, ’ and a girl said ‘what’s GSA?, ’ and a boy the rner said, ‘That’s the faggot club.
Alice L., a 53-year-old mother of a transgenr stunt Utah, said: “I’ve talked to teachers who are like, ‘I’d like to stop , but I don’t know what to say, and particularly light of Utah’s laws where I n’t promote homosexualy.
Tristan O., a 21-year-old transgenr man Pennsylvania, relled that when he was school, many of his teachers ma gay jok wh stunts, and “when teachers or thory figur make ments, you’re stuck wh those people school.
GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT
A report om Human Rights Watch lls on the ernment of St. Vcent to overturn lonial-era anti-gay laws that have led to a recent wave of vlence and genr discrimatn on the small Caribbean island. * gay harassment in schools *
”[79] Cheyenne F., a 17-year-old transgenr stunt Alabama, relled beg told class by a health teacher “that Ameri’s acceptance of gays and abortn was the e of the fall of the Tw Towers, ” a reference to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD ADOPTS SOCIAL STUDI TEXTBOOKS THAT CLU GAY RIGHTS AFTER WARNGS OM ERNOR
A Southern California school board on Friday adopted a social studi curriculum that clus gay rights that was approved by parents and teachers after ially rejectg . * gay harassment in schools *
Isolatn n beg as early as elementary school; Raven C., a 10-year-old gay stunt Texas, said he was shunned by peers after he me out: “People are iends wh each other, but they treat me like I’m a shadow.
REPORT SAYS SCHOOLS OFTEN IGNORE HARASSMENT OF GAY STUNTS
The Temecula Valley school board adopted a social studi curriculum that clus gay rights. * gay harassment in schools *
Amy L., a teacher Pennsylvania, said: “We read Will Grayson, Will Grayson last year, and a lot of the male stunts didn’t want to read bee had two stunts that are gay, and the school let them opt out and read a different book. A girl wrote this great story about a man whose wife leav him bee he was gay, and she actually got [reprimand] and her parents were lled bee they said was appropriate and not acceptable a school environment.
LGBT rights advot note that the Texas law only pertas to the ntent of mol curricula issued by the state, for example, but Kev D., a teacher Texas, explaed to rearchers, “[i]t is wrten to the that health teachers are supposed to strs that homosexualy is agast the law. ”[138] Nora F., a Utah admistrator, said most teachers “aren’t formally traed on what the no promo homo law means, ” and “the … unrstandg is that you n’t say anythg about LGBT inty, harassment, anythg.